Is eco-building for everyone?
Is eco-building for everyone?
Walls Going up
The short answer is yes!
In times of increasing populations, the extremely high cost of buying or building a house and the negative impact these have on the environment, it´s time for all of us to learn from our ancestors!
Eco-building uses old, often forgotten, techniques, working with, not against natural surroundings with a low environmental impact. The idea is to use sustainable materials readily and if possible freely available in the place where you live to last the test of time.
Walls Before Plastering
There are many techniques and ways of building, including cob, earth-bag, rammed-earth and wattle and daub and the one you chose depends on the site where you´ll be building and the materials, time, people-power and financial resources available.
Our house was built using the earth-bag technique. As the site is on the side of a hill, a terrace was first cut, which provided the earth. This very earth was then compressed into bags to become the walls, with the roof being supported by locally grown and felled eucalyptus trunks. The main resource was time and energy supplied by volunteers and kind neighbours.
The Finished House from Above
This and other material is available on my blog:
https://paradiseregainedsite.wordpress.com/2017/05/16/is-eco-building-for-everyone/
What does land cost in Oz nowadays?
Thank you for your comment. I live in Brazil, where rural land can be bought fairly cheaply. I imagine that this is a lot less expensive than Australia.
I didn't know eucalyptus grew in Brazil!
Will you be investigating off grid power solutions? I know that there's little high temp geothermal availible on the mainland, but low temp can generate enough power for a home, or at least provide hearing/cooling.
Hello @jdc. Eucalyptus is not native, but if planted and managed correctly can be very beneficial particularly with agroforestry.
We indeed intend to be completely off-grid. Currently, we just have electricity, but plan to invest in solar power. There is so much sun here, so it´s an easy and cheap way to generate energy.
In terms of heating, we don´t have any and don´t really need it , as the winter is short and not too cold! The summer can however be hot, but the house with it´s 50cm thick walls is both warm in winter and cool in summer. :)
Nice. Solar if fine I suppose. I'm not a fan of it because of kW limitations and because of their quick degradation.
Thanks for sharing! Do You have some more details to show? More close-up picture please. :)
m.
I´m planning to post about plastering soon and can certainly add some close up photos.
What exactly would you like to know?
If you are seriously thinking of building an ecohouse, you may be interested in reading Becky Bee´s "A Cob Builder´s Handbook", which I found invaluable. :)